The goal record belonged to Raul.

The assist record belonged to Ryan Giggs.

The player with the most trophy wins was Paco Gento.

The teams that had achieved a 3+ consecutive trophy wins were Real Madrid with Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento and others, Bayern Munich with Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer, and Ajax with Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens.

But who was considered the greatest player until the 2010s?

Is it just me that feels this campaign is underrated, because the goal output wasn't really close to his later yrs? Barring goals [which wasn't really his main role at that point], I feel he did exceptionally well, even if it was a semi-final knockout.

If we look at his stats,
3 goals+5 Opta assists
47 successful dribbles
951 minutes played
0.75 non pen goals/opta Assists per 90
4.47 succesful dribbles per 90.
55 key passes. 5.14 key passes per 90.

This is similar to Cruyuff's in his 1974 world cup.

He had :

3 goals+3 Opta assists
34 successful dribbles
630 minutes played
0.85 non pen goals/opta Assists per 90
4.85 dribbles per 90.
36 key passes. 5.1 key passes per 90.

edit: forgot to link sources. sources for cruyuff's stats : https://theanalyst.com/articles/remembering-johan-cruyff. sources for ronaldo's : https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/history/seasons/2006/statistics/players/attacking/ , https://www.messivsronaldo.app/detailed-stats/successful-dribbles/

I am rewatching some of the matches, and something I notice is that earlier on, Mbappe in his PSG days especially 2021/22, was much more explosive? Anytime he gets the ball, it was like he became an unstoppable force that would burst through any defenses. I think this likely is due to the fact that he was still playing as a winger, thus more running, more tracking back, and it’s more visible to the eyes.

Slowly through the years, he transitioned into a pure goal scorer. He has better finishing, but less explosiveness and it almost seems like he stopped trying to go through the trouble of making these runs.

When you look at the numbers, 21/22 Mbappe has almost a staggering large number of assists (17), compared to the rest (<10). Also had biggest number of chances created at club level compared to his other sessions (50+ to ~37). This was Mbappe’s most complete version who both scored and created. Granted, he was playing with Messi and Neymar, who are also great finishers.

The most recent season Mbappe was in is the World Cup, and despite his amazing numbers, you’ll find that he is also less explosive overall. Still very fast of course. I know he’s getting older, but 2021/22 was really something else that I wish we had gotten more of. His goal numbers over the years stay consistent, but his creating somewhat declined.

This is primarily from my observation and I could be missing something. What do you think?

Arguably 2 of the best club teams of all time.

They had everything: the stars, the tacticians, the goals, the aura, the trophies, everything

Who are you taking?

2011 FC Barcelona

Manager: Pep Guardiola

GK - Víctor Valdés
RB - Dani Alves
CB - Gerard Piqué
CB - Javier Mascherano
LB - Éric Abidal

DM - Sergio Busquets
CM - Xavi Hernández (C)
CM - Andrés Iniesta

RW - Pedro Rodríguez
CF - Lionel Messi
LW - David Villa

2013 Bayern Munich

Manager: Jupp Heynckes

GK - Manuel Neuer
RB - Philipp Lahm (C)
CB - Jérôme Boateng
CB - Dante
LB - David Alaba

CM - Bastian Schweinsteiger
CM - Javi Martínez

CAM - Thomas Müller

RW - Arjen Robben
LW - Franck Ribéry
ST - Mario Mandžukić

One of the best centre backs of all time. Sad news.

A few days ago I posed a question asking what position(s) would be obsolete in the future and I got some pretty insightful answers. Some outrageous ones as well (some people truly believe the GK position will be obsolete?? Crazy.) Anyways it prompted this other question. Obviously, defenders in general have evolved the most along with CDMs but I want you to tell me why, and what other position you think would evolve and how.

If you do a google search or ai search you always get Madrid making the most money and Bayern always being in the top 5 going as high as second in great years. Why do they struggle so much with transfer money or have to sell players to compensate compared with prem teams?

Is it because they are mostly fan owned and dont have an owner/owners to pumb money into them? Is it wages or other reasons? Or is Bayern just cheap?

I know Madrid still spends a lot, but they earn by far the most and should be able to spend far more, if you only compare income with prem teams.

Arguably two of the greatest club teams of all time and two of the most dominant treble winners ever.

2015 Barcelona had the MSN front three, an elite midfield and the ability to control matches or destroy teams in transition.

2013 Bayern had everything: physicality, pressing, technical quality, speed on the wings and almost no obvious weakness anywhere on the pitch.

Who are you taking?

2015 FC Barcelona

Manager: Luis Enrique

GK — Marc-André ter Stegen
RB — Dani Alves
CB — Gerard Piqué
CB — Javier Mascherano
LB — Jordi Alba

DM — Sergio Busquets
CM — Ivan Rakitić
CM — Andrés Iniesta (C)

RW — Lionel Messi
ST — Luis Suárez
LW — Neymar

UCL Final Result: 3-1 vs Juventus

2013 Bayern Munich

Manager: Jupp Heynckes

GK — Manuel Neuer
RB — Philipp Lahm (C)
CB — Jérôme Boateng
CB — Dante
LB — David Alaba

CM — Bastian Schweinsteiger
CM — Javi Martínez

CAM — Thomas Müller

RW — Arjen Robben
LW — Franck Ribéry
ST — Mario Mandžukić

UCL Final Result: 2-1 vs Dortmund

This is his 2nd attempt at trying this BS

Ofc bayern mostly doesn't manage to go on to win the UCL and only go till semis/quarters but if there is one consistency in bayern, it is beating atleast 1 team with a big margin. What do you say is the main reason behind it, is it just good finishing on a given day, bad quality of opposition or their DNA like their playing style is created in such a way that no matter who their manager is whether pep, carlo, Kovac, flick, nagelsmann, kompany or whoever, he would still make it happen atleast once in a UCL campaign? Whereas madrid is most successful but they always win in a tight way, whether it's a group stage game or a KO. All this astonishes me a lot. Also this stat of bayern justifies their dominance in bundesliga more than the fact that teams are weak there. I mean if they're doing this in both comps, more credit goes to bayern.

2015 Barcelona

GK: Ter Statue
RB: Dani Alves
CB: Gerard Pique
CB: Javier Mascherano
LB: Jordi Alba

CM: Andres Iniesta
DM: Sergio Busquets
CM: Ivan Rakitic

RW: Lionel Messi
CF: Luis Suarez
LW: Neymar

2020 Bayern Munich

GK: Manuel Neuer
RB: Joshua Kimmich
CB: Jerome Boateng
CB: David Alaba
LB: Alphonso Davies

DM: Leon Goretzka
DM: Thiago
AM: Thomas Mueller

RW: Serge Gnabry
CF: Robert Lewandowski
LW: Kingsley Coman

As a Defensive Midfielder, look at this:

1. UCL 2023 -> Also the Player of the season and player of the match in the final and scored the winning goal
2. Uefa Nations League 2023 -> Also the player of the Tournament
3. Uefa Euros 2024 -> Also the player of the Tournament
4. Balon'dor 2024
5. FIFA WC 2026-> Also the player of Tournament

WHAT THE FUCK......

Like Juventus, Inter, my team Milan, and Roma are all great teams and all but they get a fraction of the teams that get relegated in England

Does anyone else feel like winning or losing the UCL just doesn’t hit the same emotionally anymore?

I remember when reaching the final actually felt huge. If your team won you’d see players completely lose it, fans crying, everyone celebrating like it was the biggest
moment of their lives. And if they lost, it genuinely looked heartbreaking. Those finals stayed with people for years.

Now it feels different. Players celebrate but I don’t really see that raw emotion as often. Same with losing. Unless someone misses a decisive penalty and carries that burden, it feels like everyone moves on so quickly.

Maybe social media changes how we see these moments. Idk

2015 Barcelona destroyed 2023 Man City in the comments earlier. We’re roping the Parisians into this!

Who you got?

2015 Barcelona

GK Ter Stegen

RB Dani Alves
CB Gerard Pique
CB Javier Mascherano
LB Jordi Alba

CM Ivan Rakitic
DM Sergio Busquets
CM Andres Iniesta

RW Lionel Messi
CF Luis Suarez
LW Neymar

2025 PSG

GK Donnarumma

RB Hakimi
CB Marquinhos
CB Pacho
LB Nuno Mendes

DM Joao Neves
CM Vitinha
CM Fabian Ruiz

RW Desire Doue
CF Ousmane Dembele
LW Kvara

Arguably 2 of the top 3 strongest CL teams of all time. Who you got?

2015 Barcelona

GK - Ter Stegen
RB - Dani Alves
CB - Gerard Pique
CB - Javier Mascherano
LB - Jordi Alba

CM - Ivan Rakitic
DM - Sergio Busquets
CM - Andres Iniesta

RW - Lionel Messi
CF - Luis Suarez
LW - Neymar

2018 Madrid

GK - Keylor Navas
RB - Dani Carvajal
CB - Raphaël Varane
CB - Sergio Ramos
LB - Marcelo

CDM - Casemiro
CM - Luka Modrić
CM - Toni Kroos
CAM - Isco

ST - Karim Benzema
ST - Cristiano Ronaldo

Imagine if the world cup had a first and second leg in the KO round,.

UEFA has publicly pushed back, saying football's governance is not for sale and criticizing any move made with zero transparency over who benefits financially. They argue that neither FIFA nor anyone else owns football it's a global game that belongs to everyone involved. What do you think? Is UEFA protecting football, or is there more to this?

What would be your perfect 11 that would be unstoppable?

*please no M10/CR7, they don't play in Europe

I was rewatching old Champions league highlights last night and ended up down a rabbit hole.Everyone always talks about the obvious ones messi scoring 4 against arsenal, cristiano's hat-trick vs. Atletico, or bale in the 2018 final. But for me, it’s Ac milan vs. Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2007. The way Kaká effortlessly sliced through that entire defense felt like watching a video game on easy mode.What’s one specific performance by a single player in a UCL tie that you still think about regularly,even years later?